Without giving much in the way of spoilers... I just finished Episode 5: Polarized and....

.... no matter which Ending you roll with, every single decision you made in mid-game ends up not mattering.

In the one ending, The decisions you made throughout the game turned out to never have been made in the firstplace.

In the other ending, the decisions you made throughout the game (except for a very few) will turn out to not matter whatsoever.

So.... what gives?

I very much enjoyed the game and it kept me guessing right up until the end, but I feel that we've got a Mass Effect 3 thing going on where at the very end of the game, you got 3 over-arching decisions that matter (well, only 2 in this game), and those 3 (or, rather, 2) directly give you the ending and everything you chose before ends up not affecting the ending much at all.

That kinda threw me for a loop, because I imagined that I would need (or, rather want) to replay the whole game now that I know the whole thing, and re-do the whole thing start to finish to fish up the "best" ending...

But it looks like you're given two choices: Blue Pill or Red Pill, and all of the decisions you made up until that point don't actually seem to matter. One pill invalidates all of your decisions... every single one of them and the other pill makes it so that the rest don't matter.

So..... yeah, I just... don't get it. Is there some kinda secret going on here, where if you make all of the right decisions, there's a third, secret ending or something?

PHub07

20th Oct 2015, 20:38

I would say major spoilers.

You're not alone. Pretty much every topic made her since release has touched on the awful ending.

Its funny you mention Mass Effect. I haven't felt this upset about an ending since Mass Effect 3. Its NOWHERE near that category....but still....nothing comes to mind other than Mass Effect when I think of really disappointing endings.

You're right.....nothing we do matters...and all endings were shallow....empty...and don't show anything about how the state of the world is. For me personally...going in...the ONE thing I wanted to happen the absolute least ended up being one of the endings. An ending where nothing actually ever happened at all....

EggFried

22nd Oct 2015, 21:24

I would say major spoilers.

You're not alone. Pretty much every topic made her since release has touched on the awful ending.

Its funny you mention Mass Effect. I haven't felt this upset about an ending since Mass Effect 3. Its NOWHERE near that category....but still....nothing comes to mind other than Mass Effect when I think of really disappointing endings.

You're right.....nothing we do matters...and all endings were shallow....empty...and don't show anything about how the state of the world is. For me personally...going in...the ONE thing I wanted to happen the absolute least ended up being one of the endings. An ending where nothing actually ever happened at all....

Sometimes, in life you aren't rewarded for all your hard work on something. Max worked on building these relationships only to have them taken from her. I thought this was incredibly poignant. Also, although the five days with Chloe technically never took place, Max still REMEMBERS them. They still happened to Max, she lived through that experience. The choices still count because they survive in Max's memory. The true poignancy in the ending is that she's only left with memories.

I think that Max's choices in the game will also inform her choices in the future. If you made friends with Stella or Alyssa or the kid who sketches you, Max will go on to make friends with them in the future. Max's powers gave her an insight into how people work and she can use this knowledge in the future to help a lot of people, without needing to ever rewind.

Every decision you made will leave its mark on Max still, regardless of whether it was erased from time or not.

EggFried

22nd Oct 2015, 21:48

Without giving much in the way of spoilers... I just finished Episode 5: Polarized and....

.... no matter which Ending you roll with, every single decision you made in mid-game ends up not mattering.

In the one ending, The decisions you made throughout the game turned out to never have been made in the firstplace.

I very much enjoyed the game and it kept me guessing right up until the end, but I feel that we've got a Mass Effect 3 thing going on where at the very end of the game, you got 3 over-arching decisions that matter (well, only 2 in this game), and those 3 (or, rather, 2) directly give you the ending and everything you chose before ends up not affecting the ending much at all.

It's not similar to Mass Effect 3. The problem with the mass effect 3 ending was (aside from discounting all your progress) that it came out of NOWHERE. The Starchild just appeared in the last 10 minutes.

The Life Is Strange ending choice was foreshadowed really well, (some call it predictable but I didn't see it coming, but after a second playthrough I can see that it's hinted at), so much so that several people guessed it ahead of time. It was organic to the story, and didn't come out of the blue like the Starchild. LiS ending was far superior. Also, Shepherd dies at the end of ME3 so we don't see the consequences of his final choice. In LiS we either have the heartbreaking scene where Max lets Chloe get shot then goes to her funeral or the also quite sad scene of them driving through the ruins of Arcadia Bay. Yes the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending should have been longer but it's nowhere near as bad as ME3

Ross42899

22nd Oct 2015, 22:25

It's not similar to Mass Effect 3. The problem with the mass effect 3 ending was (aside from discounting all your progress) that it came out of NOWHERE. The Starchild just appeared in the last 10 minutes.

I know it's not an ME forum, but my problem with the original ME3 ending wasn't Starchild or three final choices. It was because of plotholes, inconsistencies, lack of closure and it felt something was missing (e.g. characters who were supposed to be dead showed up on the Normandy. No explanation was given who survived and who not. No epilogue was presented, etc.). The Extended Cut fixed 90% of the things I personally disliked about the original ending (I know that starchild was the main problem for many players but for me it was not)

And that pretty much sums up what I don't like about the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending as well. For me it feels as if something is missing. It lacks closure and some explanations. It feels a bit unsatisfying and a bit "unfinished" to me.

Corinth

23rd Oct 2015, 23:52

I was comparing LiS to ME3 in the sense that you are given a Multiple Choice Ending, regardless of what decisions you made in-game which is the same for ME3 -and- LiS.

In ME3, you could be the biggest paragon, or biggest renegade and you get the same four options, even after the extended version came out. Doesn't really matter what you did in the game, you got the same basic ending, 'cept the ending cutscene mighta been changed ever so slightly (one or two people might not be present, etc).

In LiS, we get the same thing. Save Chloe or Save the Town. That's it. You coulda treated Chloe like your lover, or you could have snubbed her every chance you get, and you still get the same two choices at the end, no matter what.

Yes, the Starchild came out of the blue, out of nowhere, but yet in LiS, we have the whole problem of "Save the Town" ending retcons everything you did in the game with the exception of Max's memory. It might as well just be a dream to her. Save Chloe just gives you a short cutscene where they walk off and that's......it. Wha? They coulda given us just a little more than that.